Understandings
by ILuvMyMiroku
Summary: After Sesshomaru sees how Inuyasha and Kagome act and react to each other, Sesshomaru starts questioning himself about how he feels about Rin and tries to understand her.


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha! I don't have any rights to it; I just like expressing my creativity! Inuyasha is owned, and created, by Rumiko Takahashi.

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Understandings

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Notes:

-I would like to thank SheWoman76 from the Adult Swim Message Boards for giving me this idea!!

-???: The lyrics from the song Rin sings is from the opening of the anime _I My Me! Strawberry Eggs. _Just ask if you want the translation.

-Whenever Sesshomaru sees Rin and he asks her about Jaken and stuff, you guys have no clue how much I wanted to type about Rin pulling a Koharu. (Meaning that he got on her last nerve and she whacked him with a block of wood till he didn't move anymore -.-)

-I really tried to keep Sesshomaru, Rin and Jaken in character here, especially Sesshomaru. Do you guys think I did well? Please give me your honest opinions!

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Translation notes:

-I mention a haori a couple times in the beginning. Haori is the top half of Inuyasha's kimono.

-Koibito means sweetheart.

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"Hey…" Inuyasha whispered, shrugging off his haori, placing it around Kagome's shoulders.

A shivering Kagome pulled the haori closer to herself, leaning against Inuyasha. The temperature was dropping drastically, the campfire in front of them smoldering down to its last embers. "Hmm?"

Inuyasha smirked down at her, wrapping his arm around Kagome to bring her closer. "I got a question."

"Yes?" Kagome looked across the small campfire to Miroku, Sango and Shippo, who were all sleeping peacefully, their blankets snug against them. She smiled as she could hear Shippo softly snoring. "What is it?"

"Why do you always have to 'sit' me?" Inuyasha's tone was serious as he matched Kagome's gaze, looking to his friends. His ears twitched once, hearing a rustle in the bushes surrounding them. He was able to smell a familiar scent, but sensed no danger.

Kagome giggled, tilting her head upwards to look at Inuyasha, letting one of her hands slip out of his haori to come up to his face, stroking his right cheek. "Because it's fun, koibito."

Inuyasha returned her smile. He felt his face get hot and he dropped the subject immediately, letting his eyes fall closed as Kagome softly stroked his cheek. His head tilted to the right slightly, kissing her palm.

Kagome blushed as she opened her mouth to say something but instead of finding words she simply yawned, bringing her hand back into his haori.

"You tired?" Inuyasha asked, pulling Kagome with him as he stood up, at the same time pulling her into an embrace.

"Mm-hmm." Kagome mumbled into his chest, afterwards yawning again.

Inuyasha laughed, patting Kagome on the head. "Why don't you go to bed for the night?" he said, pointing over to Miroku and the others with a clawed finger. "I'm gonna stay up a while, see ya in the morning."

Kagome nodded, walking over to her sleeping friends. She kneeled down beside Sango and Shippo, soundlessly crawling into her own sleeping bag and smiling towards Inuyasha and waved before she rolled over on her side, trying to go to sleep.

It took all Inuyasha had not to try and laugh again, for besides Kagome's black hair she blended in with her red sleeping bag since she was still wearing his haori. He took another glance at his friends before hearing the rustle in the bushes again, this time the sound coming from behind him.

Smelling the same scent, Inuyasha walked over to where the noise was coming from, curious, and carefully peered over one of the bushes near his eye level, looking into an empty forest. The scent was barely noticeable anymore, like any traces of the object had just suddenly vanished.

Shrugging his shoulders, Inuyasha gave up on the strange presence and watched the last of the embers in the campfire burn out before jumping into a tree across from his friends. He could be a good lookout from here, able to keep watch over the area. An owl hooted in the branch above him, but quickly flew away after Inuyasha growled at it, leaving him to sleep in peace. It wasn't long until Inuyasha was fast asleep as a baby, softly snoring to himself, his inhaling even.

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Narrowed amber eyes, much like Inuyasha's, peered out from the bushes, watching the events playing out in front of him. A gust of wind came through the area and the man brought a sharp, clawed finger up to the side of his face to push some long, silver hair behind his ear.

Sesshomaru shook his head in disgust, wondering how his little brother could be so hopelessly in love like that, while at the same time he found it a little bit amusing. What did his brother and father find so captivating about humans, anyway? _'Humans are nothing,'_ he thought to himself. _'They're just weak, worthless. A human could never…'_

Sesshomaru's thoughts instantly slammed to a halt. What was he saying? He shook his head in disgust again, but this time towards himself. He was the careless one, forgetting all about Rin.

Despite his emotions, however, Sesshomaru smirked. In some ways, Rin was actually his savior. What would Sesshomaru truly be like if Rin had never came along? Would be still be a cold, heartless demon traveling the word, not hesitating to kill anyone or anything?

"Rin." Sesshomaru spoke her name once, remembering back to that day when he resurrected Rin after she had been mauled and killed by Koga's wolves; whenever he had held her in his arms for that brief moment. He could still remember Rin's crooked, toothy smile, while deep down she was in pain more than anyone could imagine.

Though he had questioned a lot of Inuyasha's choices since they were both young pups, Sesshomaru, deep down, could understand his brother's feelings for Kagome. She didn't mind that Inuyasha was a cocky smart mouth. In return, Inuyasha was able to mind how cheery it seemed Kagome could get. While at the same time their emotions could be the same for a tender moment, the one which had just happened, for example.

Was Sesshomaru actually happy for his brother? He looked down to the dusty forest ground, shaking his head in a negative manner. The time when he'd actually approve or agree with Inuyasha about something would be a cold day in hell.

The Tokijin at Sesshomaru's hip started twitching, able to feel the hatred between the two brothers for a brief moment. The Tokijin thirsted for Inuyasha's blood, the same way it had when Kaijinbo had forged the Tokijin from Goshinki's fangs. Sesshomaru brought his hand to the hilt of the Tokijin, turning around at the same time. It was better to leave now before he did anything stupid.

Minutes later Sesshomaru was nearing his own campsite where he had left Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un. As he neared he could hear soft snoring. Was he the only one in this world not asleep? But something was different. Instead of snoring, Sesshomaru could clearly hear Rin's voice, singing lightly to herself. Being as quiet as possible, Sesshomaru quietly walked to the edge of the clearing and, once again, peeked out a bush to spy on his friends. It amazed him to see Rin lightly singing to a sleeping Jaken, who was oblivious of what was going on.

"Shounen no kokoro no mama, otonani natta hito

Futari deatta ano hi ni wo modorenai kedo." ???

Rin eyed Jaken's two-headed staff before taking a deep breath, resuming her singing.

"Hitomi wo tojireba, hohoemu kao ga mieru

yoaki na toki hodo, anata wo omoidasu." ???

Sesshomaru blinked, lightly chuckling at the same time. A rare smile crossed his lips as he wondered what Jaken would do if he ever heard what she was singing to him. Taking a deep breath, he straightened himself and walked out of the bushes into the clearing, accidentally stepping on a twig which snapped under his foot.

Rin stopped singing abruptly, snapping her head around, fear clearly visible through her eyes. Seeing Sesshomaru, she sighed in relief, smiling. "Lord Sesshomaru!" she called happily.

Sesshomaru stepped forward again, this time towards Ah-Un, petting both of the demons' heads. Un lifted his head, blinking open its yellow eyes until he recognized Sesshomaru, then put his head back down again with a large sigh as his eyes closed, hoping to go back to its undisturbed sleep.

"Rin." Sesshomaru nodded towards Rin, walking straight past her to sit down near --a still sleeping-- Jaken. "How often do you sing to yourself like that?"

Rin, nervous, looked away and folded her hands in her lap.

"You don't have to be shy, Rin. I'm sure you couldn't help it."

Rin looked back to Sesshomaru, nodding. "Not a lot," she muttered, staring down at her lap. "Sometimes I just get these tunes in my head."

"I understand." Sesshomaru looked up, the moon shining down over them. "Why were you singing? And to Jaken, of all things? Couldn't sleep?" Rin nodded. Sesshomaru felt very strange, confronting Rin like this. "Did something frighten you?"

Rin shook her head. "Not exactly. I just kept on hearing these weird… Animal noises." She looked away again. "Master Jaken and Ah-Un had fallen asleep already and I felt all alone. I was scared to sleep, Lord Sessho… Huh?" Rin stopped and looked up, seeing Sesshomaru staring down at her, his clawed hand firmly placed on her shoulder.

"You can sleep now. I'm here." Sesshomaru's voice was calm, gentle. Rin nodded and stood, looking down at Jaken with a giggle. "Goodnight, Jaken, Ah-Un." she flashed Sesshomaru a toothy grin. "Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru waved her off as she ran to go to sleep herself. After she was gone, however, Sesshomaru plopped down next to Jaken again. Thousands of small things were constantly rushing through his mind. Why was he being reminded of the scene with his younger brother and his wench? In some ways he and Rin just shared a moment exactly like Inuyasha and Kagome had earlier.

Shrugging it off, Sesshomaru stood before looking at the moon one last time. Walking over back to Ah-Un, he sat down and leaned against them, using the large fluff over his shoulder as a pillow and blanket.

The next morning, Sesshomaru awoke to the sound of Rin's laughing and Jaken's screaming. Blinking open his amber eyes, Sesshomaru yawned once as he quickly stretched out and stood up. Rin was running around in large circles, laughing, with Jaken's small black hat in hand.

Jaken, being the simple-minded imp that he was, followed Rin, screaming at her in his oh-so-annoying voice. Heh, Jaken even threatened her that he would sic Sesshomaru on her. Like that would ever happen.

"You'll never catch me, Jaken!" Rin screamed through a fit of laughter.

"Get back here, you human!" Jaken yelled at the same time. "Give me my hat!"

"You'll have to catch meee," Rin singsong.

Jaken stopped near his two-headed staff, placing a hand over his heart, huffing. "Oy, I'm getting too old for this," he panted, afterwards grabbing the staff. "Give it back or I'll roast…"

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin suddenly cried out as she saw him awake, not paying any attention to Jaken. Jaken looked to his two-headed staff and quickly let it go, letting it fall to the grass with a soft _thump._

"Good morning, Rin. I take it you slept well?" Sesshomaru asked, glaring over at Jaken.

"Yes!" Rin bowed. "Thank you for asking!"

Jaken cleared his throat, walking up to Rin and Sesshomaru. He snatched his hat from Rin's hand and placed it back on his head before speaking. "This child took my hat!" he whined.

"Don't cry over it," Sesshomaru replied harshly. "It's just a hat. Let the girl be content." he looked back over to Rin, who was petting Ah-Un's mane. "Rin."

Rin looked up. "Yes?"

"Untie Ah-Un from the tree. We're leaving." Rin nodded and did as she was told, afterwards climbing onto Ah-Un's back. The demon started walking forward, passing Jaken as he kneeled down to pick up his staff.

When she got close enough, Rin leaned down while holding onto Ah-Un's neck very tight, taking Jaken's hat again. The imp didn't realize it until Rin was laughing again, Ah-Un trotting along the grass making it nearly impossible for Jaken to catch up. "Still can't catch me!" she called out.

Jaken turned to Sesshomaru who just shook his head, looking away as if he was unaware of the situation going on between his traveling companions. Jaken snorted as he tried to chase them again. "Wait for me!" he called out, ignoring Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru walked slowly behind Jaken and Rin, thoughts still stirring through his mind. It wasn't uncommon for him to ask himself why he let Rin stay with him after all these months. He just couldn't bring himself to leave her abandoned again. She also had been softening his heart over time, he's not as out of control as he used to be before he could at least try to understand human emotions.

Sesshomaru sighed, running his hand through his hair once to get hair out his face. He couldn't understand Rin. He couldn't understand Jaken at times. He couldn't even understand himself and some of the things he had done in life. But he'll continue looking for the answers, even if some understandings he comes to just raise more questions.

He followed Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un towards the horizon.

-The End-

Sorry if the ending sucks, it was hard for me to come up with an ending that wasn't too farfetched and still kept in character with Sesshomaru and company. Please review and tell me what you guys think!! Thanks!!

--And, remember, I'm taking requests for one-shots at the moment!--


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